Juanita Nielsen
Juanita Nielsen (activist) | |
---|---|
Born | 22 April 1937 |
Disappeared | 4 July 1975 |
Nationality | Australian |
Victim of | disappearance |
Australian activist and newspaper publisher killed in 1975, with strong suspicions of the involvement of organized crime and police corruption. |
Juanita Joan Nielsen (nee Smith) was an Australian newspaper publisher and journalist, heiress of the Mark Foy family, who was notable for her activism against urban development around Kings Cross, Sydney, and her support for the Builders Labourers' Federation's Green Bans. She disappeared in Kings Cross in 1975. The people responsible for her disappearance have never been identified, and her remains have never been found.
It is generally believed that she was killed because of her activism, and there have been strong suspicions of the involvement of organized crime and police corruption. In 1977 two men associated with King Cross crime boss Abe Saffron were jailed for conspiracy to kidnap her, based on an incident leading up to her disappearance. A coronial inquest in 1983 determined that Nielsen had been killed but failed to identify who killed her.
The unsolved mystery has continued to be a concern for the Australian community and has inspired several films.